


That's The Way You Need It

by MaeveBran



Category: The Losers (2010)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-24
Updated: 2012-12-24
Packaged: 2017-11-22 07:18:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/607243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaeveBran/pseuds/MaeveBran
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jensen goes home for Christmas and has the family Christmas he needs to remind him why he does what he does.</p>
            </blockquote>





	That's The Way You Need It

**Author's Note:**

  * For [smilebackwards](https://archiveofourown.org/users/smilebackwards/gifts).



> Thanks to my beta (whose name I'll edit in after the reveal.)
> 
> Also since I couldn't find names for the niece and sister, I gave them names. If I have missed some bit of canon where their names are mentioned, I'd appreciate being linked to that info.

Jake Jensen rang the doorbell of his sister’s house. He hoped they were home. It was four o’clock on Christmas Eve and the snow was undisturbed enough to show they might be. As he waited he took a deep breath and gripped the handle of his duffle bag tighter. It had been a couple months since he’d been home and even then he’d pissed off his sister, Allison, at his niece’s soccer game. He couldn’t help it if he got over-involved in the game. He just wanted to make sure that the little Miss Amanda Jensen had the best childhood he could give her. Jensen knew that the kid’s father wasn’t in the picture so he tried to pick up the slack and give her a cool Uncle if not Father figure.

The bell chimed inside the house and the pitter patter of little feet running to the door sounded from inside. He could faintly hear his sister telling his niece to check to see who it was before opening the door. Sure enough he saw Amanda look out the window next to the door, so he waved at her.

The door was thrown open and Amanda launched herself at him. He caught her and swung her around.

“Manny, who is it?” called Allison from somewhere in the vicinity of the kitchen.

“Just the big bad wolf,” Jensen called.

Allison stepped out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on the kitchen towel she carried.

“Well come on in and shut the door before you let all the warm air out,” Allison said as she turned back to the kitchen.

Jensen hung up his jacket on one of the hooks on the entry wall, placed his duffle on the floor, and shut the door. Then he pulled Amanda to his side and slung an arm around her waist to carry her down the hall. Soon she would be too big for this trick but while it was possible they’d both enjoy it. Amanda giggled the whole way. When they reached the kitchen he set her on a stool and watched Allison roll out the last of the cookie dough she was working with.

“So how long are you here for,” Allison asked. “This time.”

“I’ve got to get back right after the New Year,” Jensen replied. “Clay got a job for us to do. It pays well.”

“Good,” Allison said in a tone that said there would be more discussion on the subject after Amanda had gone to bed.

“Uncle Jake. Uncle Jake,” Amanda demanded as she pulled on his shirt sleeve.

“Yes, Amanda Panda?” he asked turning his attention to the primary reason he had for taking the missions anymore. Allison could live on what she made but it would be hard on Amanda. So he took the mercenary missions that paid well, particularly after they had cleared their names and could work openly, and supplemented Allison’s income. Because really, what else did Jake need money for? He had enough to keep him in computers, gadgets, and women but there was always more from his share than he needed.

“Uncle Jake, I got 100’s on every one of my spelling tests so far this year,” Amanda said proudly.

“Way to go, kiddo,” Jake said holding his hand up for a high five. Amanda took the invitation and slapped her uncle’s hand.

Later, after Amanda had gone to bed, Jake and Allison stayed up wrapping presents for Amanda. Allison struggled to put together a doll house while Jake ate the cookies Amanda had left out for Santa.

“So how long are you going to be gone this time?” Allison said as she slid tab A into slot A.

“I have to leave bright and early on next Wednesday,” Jensen said around the cookie he’d been munching.

“A week,” Allison said. “That’s better than last time, I guess.”

“I thought you couldn’t wait for me to leave,” Jensen said as he slid his presents under the tree when Allison concentrated on the directions.

“Only because Amanda was so embarrassed about the way you behaved at her soccer game,” his sister said as she tightened a crucial screw and finished the doll house.

“I’m sorry but I couldn’t sit idly by while the Petunias got the bum calls,” he said.

“I know,” she answered. “It’s what makes you, you and why you do what you do. I just wish what you do didn’t take you away so much and wasn’t so dangerous.”

“I’ve got a good team,” Jake tried to reassure her. “And they have my back as much as I have theirs.”

“I know,” she said as she straightened up. “But I still worry.”

Jensen, for once in his life, couldn’t think of anything to say, so he wrapped his sister in a giant hug. After a minute, Allison moved back from her brother.

“I’ll see you in the morning,” she said as she picked up the leftover wrapping paper and took it upstairs with her.

Jake was awaken the next morning by Amanda bouncing on his bed shouting, “Wake up, Uncle Jake! Santa came!”

Before he could do much more than open an eye, his niece had bounced out of the guest room in a pajama clad blur.

Ten minutes later, he made his way downstairs in the flannel pajamas Allison and Amanda had given him last year. (Which would explain why they were red with Rudolph’s face all over them.) Allison handed him a cup of coffee as he passed the kitchen on the way for the family room.

“Now, Mommy?” Amanda asked as she bounced up and down holding a stocking.

“Yes, Manny,” Allison replied as she and Jensen sat on the couch.

Amanda skipped over to her uncle and handed him the stocking. Then she ran over to the fireplace and retrieved another stocking that she took to her Mother. Only then did Amanda take down her own Stocking.

Jensen was surprised that he got a stocking but as he unpacked it he had to laugh. It was full of small first aid supplies, freeze dried food, and nuts still in the shell. The toe held an actual orange and a candy cane had been hooked over the edge. It was perfect. He could detect Allison’s hand in the first aid supplies and the choice of three flavors of freeze dried ice cream could only have been Amanda’s.

The girls had gotten the same nuts, candy canes, and oranges, but Amanda had some Disney Princess crayons and small coloring books and Allison the Alpaca wool socks he’d picked up for her in South America.

Then the festivities moved on to the presents under the tree. The first present Amanda unwrapped was a familiar doll. The first “I love you, Mommy,” sent Jensen running for the kitchen to get a plateful of cookies. After Bolivia he had never wanted see another of those dolls. He ate a cookie and calmed down. This was the best Christmas ever anyway.


End file.
